From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
Ondo State government has expressed its readiness to distribute food stuffs, especially rice to the citizenry as part of measure to cushion the effects of the fuel subsidy removal.
Already, the state government said it has taken delivery of 3000 bags of rice from the Federal Government and also provided another 3,000 bags.
The state commissioner for Finance, Mr Wale Akinterinwa who disclosed this at a programme tagged Ondo Media Agenda organized by the state council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Akure, the Ondo State capital on Tuesday, said the government of Governor Rotimi Akeredolu is committed to the welfare of the masses.
Also, Akinterinwa assured that pensioners and the vulnerable in the state will receive #10,000 each set aside for them at the end of August.
He stated that the 3000 bags of rice from the Federal Government are part of the 81,000 bags promised each state of the federation to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal.
The commissioner assured that besides rice, other local food items will be procured and distributed to the poor people in the state using the existing data in the various communities across the state.
He said “Free Transportation for school children will commence next month, transportation for civil servants will also commence for easy movement, and we intend to buy more vehicles.
“We would have purchased more vehicles but we don’t want the ones using petrol. We want to buy CNG buses because they are bigger, but all the states are going for this type because of the fuel cost, we are also on the que for it,” he added.
Speaking on the efforts of the Governor Akeredolu led administration at improving the standard of living and infrastructure in the state, Akinterinwa revealed that Governor Akeredolu gave him and other members of the economic team put in place at the inception of his administration a matching order to improve up the internally generated revenue of the state.
He disclosed that at the inception of the administration, the state IGR was hovering between N500,000 and N600,000.